Winterful

Just a little recap of the major winter events that I failed to blog about in a timely fashion.

Paige's Birthday
Buckaroo turned 7 this December.  Whoa.  She decided to take her turn at a Chuck E. Cheese's b-day party.  Lucky me got to take Paige and three of her friends to Maple Grove to celebrate.  I had a bit of happiness in my heart knowing that this was my second, and final, birthday excursion to the bizarro world that is Chuck E. Cheese's.  I'm officially done!  The girls had a great time and had their fill of pizza, pop, games, and prizes.

Paige in the Ticket Blaster

Paige also got to choose her birthday meal and cake for our at home celebration.  She wanted crab legs for supper.  Henry and I may have planted that idea in her pretty little head.  She does love crab legs and we only make them once or twice a year, so a birthday seemed like a great excuse to get out the dishes of butter and have us some messy seafood.  Then there was the birthday cake...

Paige's Birthday Pie

Red announced that she wanted pumpkin pie for her birthday cake.  Okay?  I've never made a pumpkin pie before but figured it couldn't be too tough.  I usually try to go all out homemade so I wasn't even sure where to begin.  It ended up being a hectic week so I decided to cheat and bought pumpkin pie filling and a pre-made crust. The day of her birthday meal arrives and I tell her that it is time to make the pie.  She says she is really excited because I make the best pumpkin pie.  Uh Oh...I sense a miscommunication disaster...I've NEVER made a pumpkin pie.  Turns out she wanted apple pie.  Well, I already had the crust and I luckily had some apples in the fridge.  She ended up with a honeycrisp apple pie.  And it was good!

Our Anniversary
 
Henry and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on December 23rd.  I truly love him and our life that we have built together.  Henry has been known to tell me, when he's annoyed with me (I know, hard to believe that I can be irritating in any way, right?), "Remember that I always love you."  Reading between the lines, he is saying that he doesn't necessarily like me at that moment.  I almost always like him too! 

Shortly after our anniversary, one of Henry's co-workers pulled me aside at a business function and said, "That man absolutely adores you."  There aren't words to describe how that made me feel.  Henry has told people that he is married to his best friend.  And to that I say, "Ditto".

Christmas

Paige and her cousin Zach snowmobiling at the cabin.

It was another fantastic Christmas for the Blattner family.  The kids were able to spend massive amounts of time with their cousins.  This is what they were most looking forward to, even more than the gifts!  This year they were very much into giving gifts as well which was heartwarming.  Blake and Paige got books and games and hockey gear.  The family received a telescope from Santa.  Hindsight being 20/20, we learned that telescopes are not a great christmas gift.  The kids were so excited to try it out until we realized that we probably won't be able use it until we take it up to the cabin this summer.  We are all looking forward to stargazing when the clouds dissipate and the weather cooperates.

And just because it seems fitting 

with the Anniversary and Christmas themes

Our First Christmas (ahhh, ha, ha, ha)